Senior Engineering Manager, Platform

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in United States, +2 more countries.

📋 Description

• Take ownership of a specific area within GiveDirectly’s cash delivery platform: payments, core platform, or data collection.

• Lead a team expected to grow to 5–7 senior engineers, managing 1:1 meetings, setting goals, providing feedback, overseeing career development, performance management, recruitment, and onboarding.

• Be accountable for domain technical outcomes, focusing on delivery, reliability, and significant technical initiatives.

• Collaborate with the product team on the roadmap, feature development, technical debt, infrastructure investments, and delivery speed.

• Promote operational excellence in areas such as on-call duties, incident response, code quality, testing, AI, and deployment practices.

• Safeguard and enhance the engineering culture by encouraging open discussions, product ownership, continuous improvement, and robust engineering principles.

• Represent the team in discussions with stakeholders and leadership, effectively translating technical realities into business decisions and the reverse.

• Evaluate architecture and designs, establish the technical quality standards, and guide sound trade-offs while avoiding bottlenecks.

• Work alongside field and partner teams to enhance product development practices and support cash delivery at scale.

• Report directly to the VP of Technology.

⛳️ Requirements

• Must reside in an eligible country from the specified list.

• Must have at least 3 hours of overlap with East Africa Time and US Eastern Time (8am–6pm).

• Must be willing to travel approximately 3–4 times annually to a country of operation.

• Proficiency in English is required.

• A minimum of 3 years of experience managing software engineers through complete delivery cycles.

• At least 8 years of overall industry experience in building production software.

• Strong foundation in backend technologies, including databases, cloud services, and APIs.

• Proven ability to recruit, mentor, develop, and retain engineering talent.

• Experience in building and maintaining inclusive teams filled with talent during periods of rapid growth.

• A track record of fostering a strong engineering culture that includes open debate, product ownership, continuous improvement, and engineering craftsmanship/tooling, including agentic engineering.

• Ability to navigate ambiguity, prioritize effectively, and empower senior teams to operate independently.

• Strong technical judgment with experience in evaluating architecture decisions and assessing both technical and non-technical trade-offs.

• Experience in successful partnerships with non-technical stakeholders and leaders.

• Alignment with GiveDirectly's values and a demonstrated capacity for emotional intelligence, problem-solving, project management, follow-through, and promoting inclusivity.

🏝️ Benefits

• Annual benefits stipend: $21,393 in the United States, £2,760 in the United Kingdom, or $8,453 in Kenya.

• 15% bonus based on target performance, with potential for more.

• Fully remote work environment.

• Flexible work schedule, as long as there is adequate overlap with the team.

• Opportunities for professional growth.

• Team retreats or field visits approximately 3–4 times a year.